Have I trained my bird to bite me?

[BirbFriemd]

I was working with a GCC I have for a few months on her step up/down because while she would readily step up to go to my shoulder or her training perch, she wouldn't come off me without a target stick or a treat. But after about a week of working on the step up/down as a trick (treating on up and down) I'm worried I've now trained her to expect a treat any time she's on my hand--and I mean IMMEDIATELY expect a treat, and if she doesn't get one, she goes for blood. Either that, or because I was also trying to train her to tolerate my thumb on her toes (to stop shoulder rushing), I pushed too fast on that front and now she associates hand with toe touching which she doesn't like, even though I haven't been trying to touch her toes at all since this behavior started. It's hard to backtrack on that and get her to trust she can sit on my hand without me grabbing her toes when she won't behave on my hand at all.

When she bites she starts with a little nip--which of course does not get her a treat--and gets progressively nastier until I lure her back to her perch with a target stick. Her owner says she should stop if I tell her "uh-uh" but she doesn't seem to care at all about my admonishments. It's getting to the point where I'm afraid to pick her up, and that's the last thing I want.

What have I done?? What do I do???

 

[wrench13]

So the most accepted way of discouraging biting is the shunning method. If you're sure it's not your fault, if she bites you, say "No Bite" in a forceful voice and IMMEDIATELY place her on a chair back close by. Turn your back to her. NO eye contact, no talking to her, nothing, for a minute, no longer. It has to be immediate so she makes the connection with the bite. This might take awhile to get the message across, but most parrots get this pretty quickly, as this is how parrots in the wild react to their flockmates.

Works best of the parrot is bonded to you already and they are not flighted (because they will just fly to you or away). But really, the best bites are the ones that don't happen, meaning you know your parrot well enough to see one coming, and avoid it. I know when my Amazon Salty is amped up, or eating, that is NOT the time to get him to step up. He will bite me. Is that his fault? Nope, I should know better. I'm sure you get the idea.

Thats the trouble with treat training to step up, a smart bird will do exactly what yours is doing - training YOU to give her treats. To prevent the shoulder rush, instead of holding her toes, keep your elbow at 90 degrees or less, like 45 deg, so its harder for her to run up your arm to your shoulder.

 

[noodles123]

So the most accepted way of discouraging biting is the shunning method. If you're sure it's not your fault, if she bites you, say "No Bite" in a forceful voice and IMMEDIATELY place her on a chair back close by. Turn your back to her. NO eye contact, no talking to her, nothing, for a minute, no longer. It has to be immediate so she makes the connection with the bite. This might take awhile to get the message across, but most parrots get this pretty quickly, as this is how parrots in the wild react to their flockmates.

Works best of the parrot is bonded to you already and they are not flighted (because they will just fly to you or away). But really, the best bites are the ones that don't happen, meaning you know your parrot well enough to see one coming, and avoid it. I know when my Amazon Salty is amped up, or eating, that is NOT the time to get him to step up. He will bite me. Is that his fault? Nope, I should know better. I'm sure you get the idea.

Thats the trouble with treat training to step up, a smart bird will do exactly what yours is doing - training YOU to give her treats. To prevent the shoulder rush, instead of holding her toes, keep your elbow at 90 degrees or less, like 45 deg, so its harder for her to run up your arm to your shoulder.

If you don't like the idea of associating the cage with punishment and it can be done safely, place your bird on the floor during the shunning, as opposed to cage. This also will only work on birds who value your attention etc. Look into ABA--Applied Behavior Analysis too-- I will try to find a link to a thread I've already posted about it.

 

[Tman]

One thing that I do is, I have Axel on my hand I give him a treat that is big enough he has to hold it with his foot. I then lightly put my thumb on top of his other foot.
As soon as he is done with the treat I take my thumb off his foot. Over time he realized That I was helping him balance on my fingers. And now I can touch his feet and he's ok with it.
By giving him a treat his mouth is busy.